A Thai dam, a mistake, a debt

Having successfully weathered the storm of protests at its April
meeting, World Bank officials are back to business as usual,
disrupting the lives and livelihoods of some of the world's
poorest citizens.

The World Bank has been the largest single source of funds for large
dam construction worldwide. Under its stated aim of alleviating
poverty, it has promoted and funded dams that have displaced more than
10 million people, caused severe environmental damage, and pushed
borrowers further into debt. Never hesitant to exact loan repayment
in perpetuity for projects it has funded (even failed projects), the
World Bank has never been forced to pay for the destruction it has
brought to millions of people's lives and the environment.

The 25,000 villagers affected by the Pak Mun Dam in northeast Thailand
know all too well about the World Bank and its particular brand of
poverty alleviation. The dam, which was completed in 1994, decimated
the abundant fisheries of the Mun River, thereby destroying the
villagers' primary source of livelihood.

In protest and in a quest for justice, more than 3,000
villagers have occupied the area adjacent to the dam for more than 17
months - and moved in May to occupy the dam itself. At time of
writing, 472 people are on an indefinite hunger strike outside
Government House in Bangkok.

They're demanding that the Pak Mun Dam gates be permanently opened
and the Mun River - largest tributary of the Mekong River - be
restored. Inspired in part by the growing US dam-decommissioning
movement, villagers believe the only way to recover their lost
livelihoods is through restoring the Mun River.

They want the World Bank to take responsibility for its role in
promoting and funding the project.

In a June letter to James Wolfensohn, World Bank president, villagers
demanded the World Bank work with the Thai government to
decommission Pak Mun Dam by opening the flood gates permanently and
restoring the Mun River.

The hydropower project was financed by the World Bank and built by the
state-owned utility EGAT. It was controversial from the outset due to
its predicted impacts on river fisheries. Local fisherfolk mounted an
international campaign to prevent World Bank financing. EGAT and the
bank dismissed the villagers' concerns, but did install a fish
ladder to appease them. Ridiculously, the ladder's design was
based on the habits of Pacific Salmon, not Mekong River fish, and is
useless.

Meanwhile, EGAT and the World Bank claim the project is a success. A
1998 World Bank report claimed the project's resettlement was
satisfactory, and that compensation was exceedingly
generous, making the majority better off. The report
accuses villagers of having a culture of complaint and
trying to win sympathy for even greater compensation claims and
assistance. But each change in resettlement policy was motivated
by villagers' persistent protests and demands for just
compensation. After a 10-year battle, villagers now maintain they were
better off before the dam, and if it were up to them, they'd
remove the dam and return to their old lives.

The World Commission on Dams (WCD), an independent international
agency established to review the development effectiveness of large
dams, recently completed its Pak Mun Dam study. The WCD recorded that
56 species of fish in the Mun River have completely disappeared since
the dam was built. The WCD estimated that the actual catch in the
reservoir and upstream is 60 percent to 80 percent less than in the
pre-dam era, resulting in an economic loss to villagers of about $1.4
million per annum. The WCD also confirmed that the fish ladder has
not been performing and is not allowing upstream fish migration.

Economically, the WCD found the project isn't performing well, and
that it contributes only marginal amounts of power. The dam was
supposed to generate 136 megawatts, but barely generates 40 megawatts
in high-demand months. There's simply insufficient water to turn
the turbines in the dry season. Even in the rainy season, EGAT has to
shut the plant down because high water levels upstream and downstream
mean there isn't enough water pressure to drive the turbines.

The WCD concludes it is unlikely that the project would have been
built if actual true benefits would have been used in the economic
analysis. With such evidence supporting the villagers' claims
that the project has done more harm than good, there's no good
reason for the Pak Mun Dam's gates to remain closed.

Removal of the dam would result in immediate benefits and no great
loss to Thailand's power-generation capacity, currently in
surplus.

The World Bank should own up to its mistakes. A growing movement of
dam-affected communities from all over the world is demanding
reparations, or retroactive compensation, for the continuing damage to
their lives because of dams. It's time for the bank to pay its own
debts. A contribution toward restoring the Mun River would be a good
first step toward this goal.